Parallel Block Preconditioning by Using the Solver of Elmer

We describe our recent attempts to produce effective parallel block preconditioners by employing the open source finite element package Elmer. Two example problems corresponding to the computational simulation of land ice flow and the high-fidelity modelling of small acoustical devises are considered. We present features which make these problems challenging from the viewpoint of the preconditioner design and also demonstrate how the requirement of achieving scalability can even lead to rethinking the overall formulation of the problem. The utility of the preconditioners implemented has been explored experimentally.